User Generated Tumbleweeds?
Aug 23rd, 2006 by Dan Blank
There has been a lot of talk this week about YouTube’s deal to partner with advertisers and marketers. One pundit, muses on whether the YouTube community will embrace content that is far more produced and mainstream than its usual video content ranging from pet tricks to poor lip-syncs.
I don’t fully agree with the idea that YouTube’s current user base will determine whether these more mainstream partnerships will work. The sites’ content, and user demographic will continue to evolve.
And there are other factors driving the success of a site like YouTube: fame. Many people who upload photos are enjoying the potential for their 15 minutes of fame, if they can get enough people to watch their videos. The New York Times has an interesting article about people’s need for fame.
“To be noticed, to be wanted, to be loved, to walk into a place and have others care about what you’re doing, even what you had for lunch that day: that’s what people want, in my opinion,” said Kaysar Ridha, 26, of Irvine, Calif., a recent favorite of fans of the popular CBS reality series “Big Brother.”
Will this same need drive people to submit content and engage in social networks on magazine and media websites? Perhaps the question is: how much celebrity can you offer them?